I Scream, You Scream...

Lately Louis refers to "when I was little..." and talks about something that happened a few months ago. I know how he feels. Life has changed a lot since we traveled to China to bring Michael home. I used to think it was an adventure to take one child to the grocery store. Now that I'm a mother of two, I have a new perspective. There are still places I won't attempt on my own with the two boys, but I've also had to relax a little and see how things go. After all, I'm trying to make the most of my family leave and that means taking the boys places on my own. So far, so good.

On one of our latest Baba-less outings we met Louis's friend Ewen and my friend--Ewen's mom--Amy. We picked a weekday, Amy found a fantastic sort-of-midpoint place for us to meet (all the children got in for free), and we hit the road.

We were the first people into the museum so they even gave us $2 off our admission. We were pretty happy with ourselves.

And that was before we found out there was an ice cream truck to climb on...

...a movie starring a talking cow...

...a slide...

...and a ball pit.

Although Michael loves playing with balls, he wasn't sure what he thought of the pit itself and climbed out quickly.

His big brother?


He thinks we should install one in our living room.

Louis would have been content if we had driven a few hours just for the ball pit--and a chance to see Ewen, of course.

We hadn't seen Ewen and Amy since June, but Louis and Ewen acted as if no time had passed. And Michael, who continues to surprise me with his outgoing nature, enjoyed Ewen and Amy and the whole experience--especially when he escaped the ball pit.

What you can't see is the ball he has hidden behind his back. He's so proud of himself for taking it out of the pit. And he's thrilled that his shoes are off. If his shoes are off, he wants them on. If his shoes are on, he wants them off. Thank goodness for Velcro.

Then we invented our own ice cream flavors.

I was running after Michael, so I don't know what ingredients our friends chose.

Louis included teriyaki sauce and peanut butter and blueberries in his--and was disappointed to discover that the free ice cream sample wasn't his own flavor.


 
I'm pretty sure Amy was even more disappointed--not that it wasn't Louis's, but that she couldn't taste hers. She had actually put a lot of thought into her flavor, which--in my close-minded way--I am almost positive I would have enjoyed more than my elder son's.

I don't know how much actual conversation Ewen and Louis had during our visit, but they were drawn to the same activities.

They both enjoyed pouring these buckets of virtual ingredients into the virtual ice cream.

The buckets aren't quite as heavy as they look.

They worked extremely hard and had this station to themselves for quite a while. It must have been obvious to other museum goers that these two boys had the ice cream mixing operation under control.

Finally we got down to the main purpose for any day: the food. There were free drinks and ice cream samples for the boys--except for Michael, who seems to be lactose-intolerant, and for his mother who didn't feel right eating ice cream in front of him. Louis doesn't feel any guilt.



Fortunately Michael barely noticed that Louis had ice cream since he walked as he ate.

 

Some of my best photos of Louis have happened with his mouth full. I was realizing the other day that this is not true of my photos of Michael, mostly because I rarely sit down to eat with him. I'm usually running between the kitchen and the dining room during mealtime.

If Michael was upset that he didn't get ice cream, he concealed his frustration well.

Then we persuaded our photo boycotters to let us take just a few pictures before lunch.

 

I'd rather have an ice cream maker than a football player for a son, but Louis will do whatever he wants to do.

Maybe he'll decide to be a dairy farmer.

Ewen may have another career in mind.

Career decisions are years away, thank goodness. It was great just to have a low-key day with our high-energy boys. And Amy and I even got to chat briefly when I wasn't chasing Michael or trying to remember where I left the stroller.

When we saw Amy and Ewen four months ago, we were planning a trip to China to bring Michael home. Not that that's saying much. Ever since we met, one or both of us has been thinking ahead to a trip to China--and so are our boys.

Just this evening Louis took us on an imaginary train ride from our house to Italy, then to Hunan Province ("It takes 20 minutes," he told us), and then to Guangdong. That would be my ideal trip to China--traveling by train and stopping briefly in Italy.

Luckily for us we didn't have to travel quite that far to connect with our friends and enjoy friendship, free ice cream, and an enormous cow. I managed to keep track of both our sons for the whole trip--with just a little help from Amy. And we had just as much fun with Ewen and his mom as we did way back when Louis was little.